Field of the Invention
Individual lots of agricultural commodities defined herein to mean any legume, grain, vegetable, fruit, nut, etc. which capable of being sampled are required to be graded and valued for marketing purposes. The method used in sampling and evaluating these commodities has remained unchanged for over 30 years. Currently, untrained laborers operate sampling equipment, which includes a pneumatic sampler, to obtain samples of the commodity in question. Frequently, the sampling practices are faulty, due to various factors such as untrained laborers and faulty sampling practices used on the manually operated samplers. This results in samples which are often not representative of the batch being graded and valued.
To obtain a sample for the pneumatic sampler, operators handle manual controls to maneuver a motorized carriage to a plurality of positions, as determined by the batch size, above the batch of peanuts obtained in a trailer-like vehicle. The sampler operates on tracks about 20 feet above ground, which exposes operators to unfavorable work conditions, heat, cold and dust. As a result, operators often reduce the frequency of the maneuvering and sampling procedure, which leads to inaccurate sample readings and thereby results in incorrect grading valuation of the batch of the commodity being sampled. Additionally much of the sampling procedure is non-uniform, which further leads to erroneous evaluation of the commodity. There is a need to provide an improved sampling apparatus which overcomes the problems encountered by the manually operated sampling practice.